From the Beginning to the End
by The Killer Bunny
Summary: Joker couldn't leave Shepard alone when they had such a huge mission before them. Spoilers for ME3.


This is dedicated to my partner in crime, Miyavilurver. Jeanne is her Shepard and in order to comfort each other in the difficult times of Mass Effect 3, we've written fics for each other. This is the last of the three fics in this 'verse that I have written. Jeanne was in love with Thane for Mass Effect and is a Paragon Shepard. This takes place after Thane's death and the attack on the Citadel.

* * *

"Hey, Commander?"

Jeanne looked up at the ceiling from the couch in her cabin. "What is it, Joker?" she frowned slightly. The flight lieutenant's voice sounded strangely timid.

"Uh, hey. Listen. Can I come up there for a second?"

Jeanne raised an eyebrow. Joker never left the bridge except to sleep. One time Jeanne even saw Joker sleeping in the captain's chair. "Yeah, Joker. Come on up." Jeanne said standing up.

"Great! Uh... Okay. Be there in a second! Or several. We don't have the teleporters installed yet. Or invented... You'd think we'd have teleporters by now-"

"Jeff, Shepard is waiting."

"Right, EDI. Okay, walking up up now! Well, limping up."

Jeanne had a slightly amused smirk on at the pilot's babbling and wondered what he could want. She remembered the last time they spoke and sighed.

_"He told ME to take care of YOU. The guy leading the resistance on Earth is worried about YOU and I'M supposed to help!"_

Jeanne had been lost in her grief. But when Joker, of all people, yelled at her... She came to her senses.

The cabin door opened with a pneumatic hiss and Joker hobbled in. "Hey, Commander. If you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and sit down." he said, carefully stepping down the two steps near the entrance.

Jeanne nodded, watching as Joker sat heavily on the plush couch. "So what's up, Joker? I could have come down to the bridge. You didn't have to walk all the way up here."

"Nah." Joker tossed his head to the side dismissively. "Doc says I need to walk a little bit every day and besides, I wanted to talk to you in private "

Jeanne leaned back. "Alright. What's on your mind?"

"Well, that's kind of what I wanted to come up and ask you." Joker looked at his commander. "Last time I tried that we sort of ended up yelling at each other." he looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry about that. It's just sort of my nature to open up with a joke."

Jeanne shook her head. "It's fine."

"No, it's not. I was just... It came out all wrong and-"

"Joker." Jeanne walked over and sat beside the flight lieutenant. "It's fine." she said more firmly. "It helped."

Joker looked at her for a moment before sighing with a wry smile. "I'll take your word for it." he took off his hat and tossed it onto the table before scratching his head. "I just- if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm here, okay? I mean, you don't have to talk if you don't want to. I'm just saying."

Jeanne leaned back on the couch and nodded. "I know." she spoke quietly. "A lot of things have been going on and I really haven't had time to slow down."

"So, the shit pile sort of keeps getting bigger, doesn't it?" Joker kept his bitter smile.

Jeanne let out a soft breath, mirroring the bitter smile. "Pretty much." she tilted her head back and took a deep breath. "Joker. I miss him. I miss him a lot."

"Thane, right?" Joker asked.

Jeanne nodded softly. "I... lost Kaiden too, three years ago..." She shook her head. "But Thane... Thane was murdered, Joker. Right in front of me and I..." Her face was wet as the tears began to flow. "I couldn't do anything."

The next thing Jeanne knew, she was being held. Joker's arms weren't particularly strong. There was a way in which he carried himself that spoke of the constant apprehension hurting of his fragile body. And yet despite the weak hold, there was something strong about it. Something supportive in the weight of the arms around her shoulders, something relieving of the chest she was held to.

She cried. Joker held her and she cried.


End file.
